Two candidates are vying for the seat of York County Coroner, soon to be vacated by retiring Coroner Barry Bloss.

The candidates -- Democrat Kay Strausbaugh and Republican Pam Gay -- answered questions recently about the upcoming election and what they hope to do if they win the seat. Â

Why did you decide to run for this seat?

Strausbaugh, of York Township, said she felt strongly that God was guiding her to run for coroner.

"It's something I felt the Lord wanted me to do for a long time and I didn't do it," Strausbaugh said.

She had ignored the feelings until she recently retired. While on a road trip, she said, she knew she didn't have peace about the situation.

"I didn't know at the time that no one else was planning to run as a Democrat," Strausbaugh said of the primary. "It's just the Lord's timing knowing that no one else was planning to run. I feel like a present-day Jonah."

Pam Gay said when she and her husband started a family in the 1980s, she knew that running for coroner was something she wanted to pursue once her children were grown.

"It always interested me," Gay said, a registered nurse and certified forensic nurse at York Hospital. "I liked helping patients going through crisis and difficult times. There were nurses starting to become coroners and they were very in tune with the families of those lost in tragedy."

What are your qualifications?

Strausbaugh has worked as an EMT in Jacobus. She also worked as a secretary at York Hospital and at Children's Home of York. Strausbaugh also spent about two years working as a medical abstractor for a small government contractor.

She graduated from Northeastern High School in 1968 and has continued her education through adult classes on medical terminology and other subjects.

"I believe that God's gifts are for today," Strausbaugh said. "When Jesus walked the Earth he healed the sick and raised the dead and I believe God can work miraculously and that's probably part of it."

Strausbaugh said she doesn't believe car accidents or death in sickness are works of God, but works of evil, she said.

Gay has worked as a registered nurse for more than 30 years, with 12 years experience as a certified forensic nurse for her own business and a little more than two years as a forensic nurse with York Hospital. As a forensic nurse, Gay has worked with victims of abuse and sexual assaults to gather evidence, then passing that information on to law enforcement and the York County District Attorney's Office for area cases.

"Some of those things cross over into what the coroner does," Gay said.

Gay has worked in her own business as a legal nurse, reviewing charts and medical records to summarize them for legal briefs. She has often worked as a "sort of middle person" between the attorney and physician, she said.

What are your plans if elected?

"I think the coroner's office is already involved in a lot of different things," Strausbaugh said. She has attended some of the suicide prevention meetings led by Bloss.

"I learned a lot at that meeting," Strausbaugh said. "I had never attended anything like that before."

One of her biggest concerns are mental health initiatives.

Her brother, was has been institutionalized since he was 6, has given her some background on the topic.

"I do not own a gun and I respect people's desires to own a gun, but I feel that background checks should be more strict," she said. "Assault-type weapons do not belong on our streets."

Gay said she hopes to bring some additional technology to the York County Coroner's office, such as a website for healthy and safety information and enhanced death investigation software so there's more detail available in those types of cases.

"I really want to get out into the community more," Gay said. "I want to educate and emphasize suicide prevention, and abuse -- violent crimes that lead to tragic things in the community."

Gay also hopes to create compassion-and-care teams, for which community volunteers would be trained to go with the deputy coroners on death notifications. The volunteers would stay with the families to help with funeral arrangements and counseling resources.

The office would follow up with those families in the weeks and months after the death.

"I've had a huge amount of community response for that," she said.

About the candidates

Name: Kay Strausbaugh

Political party: Democrat

Age: 62

Municipality: York Township

Occupation: Retired

Name: Pam Gay

Political party: Republican

Age: 52

Municipality: Springettsbury Township

Occupation: Registered nurse and certified forensic nurse at York Hospital